Successful WWI tour of duty retold in Epping soldier’s gritty and honest letters

IN HIS own words, Epping’s Robert James Smith recounted the bloody Battle of Passchendaele to his family half a world away.

Wollert's Betty Greer is the daughter of WWI digger Robert Smith.story for 100th anniversary of Gallipoli. Picture: Mark Wilson

IN HIS own words, Epping’s Robert James Smith recounted the bloody Battle of Passchendaele to his family half a world away in a letter that has survived generations.

The battle would earn him a Military Cross.

Lieutenant Smith, known to most as Roy, wrote many letters to his family from the trenches on the Western Front and his daughter, Betty (Elizabeth) Greer, a Wollert resident, still has most of the originals.

On the eve of the Anzac Day centenary, Mrs Greer, 89, sat down with the Whittlesea Leader, sharing the original letters and shedding light on the man who fought for his country and came home to lead a successful life.

Lt Smith was 25 when he enlisted. He was the son of Harvest Home Lane dairy farmers Robert and Elizabeth Smith.

“He had nine sisters and one brother,” Mrs Greer said.

He was engaged to Grace Bower but they didn’t marry before the war in case he didn’t come home.

But he did and they wed on December 6, 1919, and went on to have four children — Hugh, Margaret, Elizabeth and Ken.

Lt Smith left Port Melbourne a sergeant on the Persic on June 3, 1916, and returned in June 1919 on the Karagola a lieutenant with a Military Cross after taking charge of his company when his senior officer was killed.

In a letter to his family, Smith recalled the bloody event:

“On the morning of 4.10.17 at dawn, we started a big offensive in front of Ypres. Our own front
was to attack and take Passchendaele Ridge. A more muddy and shell torn area cannot be imagined as there had been heavy rains just previous to our advance and heavy shelling for some time had made a quagmire of the ground of which we made our attack.”- Lieutenant
Robert James Smith

“At zero hour our artillery opened fire, and a more deafening nerve wracking experience I never went through, at any rate we went forward and met with some rather strong opposition from some of strongly built well known pillboxes, as they were known by.

“Our numbers were considerably reduced by this time, and we were floundering along through the mud and shell holes mopping up any of the enemy that the artillery had not put out of action.

“The artillery had done their job better in this stunt than any other I was ever in. It seemed to have unnerved the enemy and it made our advance much more easily accomplished. Capt. Moule was in command of my company and I was second in command. He was mortally wounded and evacuated early in the attack, and I had to take charge of the company.”

Mrs Greer said Lt Smith wrote to his family while he was in London upon receiving his Military Cross.

“In a letter sent home he was very casual, he tells you about everything else and then says, ‘we went to the palace … to see George (King George)’,” Mrs Greer said.

The London Gazette reported Smith’s Military Cross award on April 23, 1918:

“For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. Single-handed he rushed an enemy machinegun which was in action, and with his revolver shot the crew,” the article read.

“They were told to come home and get on with it.” - Betty Greer, daughter

Mrs Greer said her father never told any war stories when he returned home.

“We only found out (information) through the letters,” she said. “They were told to come home and get on with it.

“He became a councillor and was president of the shire for two terms.”

Robert Smith and Grace Bower at their wedding in 1919.

Mrs Greer said Lt Smith would march every Anzac Day in the city. Lt Smith and Grace spent their final days in Regent. He died on October 23, 1976, aged 86.

Read more of the city of Whittlesea’s contribution to World War I, including a nominal honour roll of the local men and women who served, in tomorrow’s Whittlesea Leader.

Read the digital edition online as soon as it’s published.

■ YARRA Plenty Regional Library staff are looking for stories about the men and women from Banyule, Whittlesea and Nillumbik who served during World War I.

To acknowledge the Anzac centenary, descendants are invited to share the stories, letters and photos their ancestors left behind.

The library service is looking for engaging and well-researched stories written in a creative nonfiction style rather than a facts and figures story, and commemorates the war without glorifying it.

Stories are open to writers aged 14 years and older, must not exceed 3000 words and are due by Monday, May 25. Photographs are encouraged and hard copies will be scanned and returned.

The book will expected to be published in 2016.

Stories can be sent to any Yarra Plenty Regional Library branch or Liz Pidgeon via email to [e-mail] or posted to Yarra Plenty Regional Library, Bag 65, Bundoora, 3083. For more information, phone Ms Pidgeon on 9401 0765